I Won't Give In

Having got my 1830s ballgown finished well ahead of Jafa I decided now was the time to make that new regency ballgown I hadn't got to yet. This dress has been a long time coming. I’ve had the fabric for years and been planning it for longer. I originally had it planned for Jafa 2015 but that was derailed by a) needing new stays and b) my sewing machine dying. So I added it to my plans for 2016 (notice how only one other of those plans has actually happened).

The ball gown is based on a fashion plate in Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen. The dress is described in the book as being crimson satin under silver-stripe French gauze, edged in satin and “the body of the dress has open fronds [sic] with stomacher”.

I was unable to find a silver-striped fabric but instead I have a plain white ‘silky’ chiffon to go over red faille – they’re not the fabric types listed but they are both lovely. I have a white satin single-fold bias and multi-purpose red ribbons for the edging. The flowers I've got are foam which... will do.

The new stays mentioned above turned out to be perfect for 1830s but rubbish for 1815. I did a couple of muslins for this gown, couldn't make them work and gave up. I consoled myself with an 1830s day dress.

Jafa 2017 came and went and as 2018's event started looming on the horizon I decided to have another attempt at regency stays. Success. Now, finally with the right undergarments, I attempted another muslin.

And to my great surprise it was pretty close.

All this time I had been looking at the bodice design and couldn't work out how it was meant to work. I considered bib front and wrap but neither seemed to really fit the fashion plate – especially the way the skirt peaks up in the centre front waistline under the trim of the bodice. Also, whoever heard of a stomacher on a regency gown?

I eventually decided (after nearly giving up on the whole thing once again) that 'open fronds' was probably meant to be 'open fronts' – Google at least returns results with that phrase. So I made a sort of half-bib front underbodice attached to the skirt with two 'fronts' that close over the top.

The front on the bib side is sewn into the waistline for part of the way. I gathered the pieces slightly along the top and bottom to smooth out the curved shape. I was very pleased to find they sat exactly on the curved waistband – shaping the fronts was an inexact science. The fronts hook together in the centre over the stomacher which is sewn to the underbodice.

It looks quite nice not having a back opening.

I made a channel for the waist tie (the most important part of any regency dress) from the front waist seam allowance. The cord goes around behind me and then through an eyelet in the underbodice to tie at the side.

I didn't try to make my shoulder straps exactly the same as the picture, instead using a substantial enough design that had a slight risk that the thing might actually stay on my shoulders. For the sleeve pattern I started with Sleeve C from Period Costumes for the Stage and Screen but cut quite a lot out of the middle so now it is a smaller puff.

For the skirt I used my standard pattern (based on figure 37 in The Cut of Women's Clothes), which I love, but moved the side seams further to the front and removed the centre back seam. And I added the peak to the skirt front. I used French seams on the tulle skirt. I should probably stop harbouring suspicion towards French seams at some point soon as they turned out quite neatly.

The white satin is sewed on by machine and the red ribbon (which covers the machine stitches) is sewn by hand (I got so sick of it). I figured out a neater way of doing it about halfway through but that was too late. I don't love this design, because regency, so I was not as careful or fussy as I might have been otherwise.

Or at least, I didn't love it until I got to wearing it. It turned out so well and I felt amazing. Other people at the festival enjoyed it too; I got stopped for lots of photos and two people recognised it from the fashion plate. I didn't always love it, but I love it now so very dearly.

There were many gorgeous ballgowns on the dance floor.